Resources

In addition to our in-office services available, Career Services has several online resources for writing professional resumes, cover letters, interviewing and career exploration you can access whenever and wherever you are.

Build a Resume

Practice an Interview

Get Career Advice

Research a Career

Resumes

A resume summarizes your professional history, skills, and qualifications, including education. Your resume is one of the most important initial job search tools...

The main goal of the resume is to get you to the interview stage. The resume should be easy to read and relevant to each position for which you are applying. When you start creating/editing your resume, review the job descriptions for each job. Employers spend approximately 5-12 seconds reviewing an individual’s resume, so you should make it easy for them to understand.

To showcase your skills in the best possible light, you should choose a resume format that fits you. Some examples of resume formats that you might consider include the following:

Federal

Chronological

Functional

Hybrid

Curriculum Vitae

Creating a resume can be very challenging and time consuming. Optimal Resume is a resource that can help you create your resume.

Cover Letters

Cover letters, which are required for most professional positions, are a great way to provide relevant details and evidence about the skills and background you can bring to a position. This letter addressing your experiences supports your resume in demonstrating that you meet the necessary qualifications for the job...

We recommend using the S.T.A.R. technique to explain relevant experiences; the S.T.A.R. technique is very simple to use yet affords you the opportunity to be thorough while also providing an interesting framework in which to convey your skills and background. S.T.A.R. stands for “Situation,” “Task,” “Action,” and “Results.” Personal action steps and resulting situations are often forgotten when conveying experiences from the past, but these are often the most important things to include! Schedule an appointment with Career Services to assist you with crafting your cover letter.

Interviews

Once you are at the interview stage of the job search, you have a great opportunity to share who you are as a professional to the employers...

Keep in mind though that preparation is going to be vital to your success in the interview process. Some things you can do to help improve your performance in an interview include the following:

Prepare a one-minute commercial to introduce yourself

Review common interview questions

Research the company and the job description

Simulate an actual interview by scheduling a mock interview with Career Services

Practice a virtual interview through InterviewStream

Portfolios

Portfolios are an excellent way to showcase your hard work to employers, and these can be useful to students in a wide variety of majors. Remember to save your group projects as those can serve as stepping stones to landing a job. A great website to help you in portfolio creation is Optimal Resume.